The Choices We Make
by The-Cynical-Goddess
Summary: When Slade turns Robin's simple gift of a necklace into a cruel game and kidnaps Raven instead of Starfire, he masterfully proves once again he may know Robin better than Robin knows himself. How far will Robin go to get her back? A story of choices.
1. Chapter 1

**The Choices We Make**

"_Do you think it will ever be all right again?" Asked the woman who stood before him. She was dressed in the most bizarre white cloak he'd ever seen, and she stood over the wreckage of something, although it was hard to discern just what. "Do you really believe my father is gone and Slade is vanquished? Do you really believe that I'm okay? Do you think I'm not hiding anything?"_

_Her voice was hollow. "You pass me every day like nothing happened, but everything has changed. I don't know how to make you understand how my life is falling apart…"_

"_Raven…" He said, stretching his hand forward. "Raven, everything is okay."_

"_Everything," she said, inclining her head so that it touched her outstretched palms, her hair growing longer by the moment, "Is not okay. I'm nothing but a demon-possessed, emotionless shell destined to die alone…"Her eyes slowly began to turn black, and all at once he realized that something about her birthmark had possessed her, that even though the threat was past, she was haunted._

"_You're not alone! Raven, please… I'll never leave you alone!" He reached out to grab the gothic girl's wrist and found it slipping through his grasp, and suddenly she screamed and began to fall. The wreckage resembled, strangely enough, many masks of Slade, and he stood on the edge, torn between whether to leave or take the plunge after her._

_He wanted, more than anything, to be the one to keep a promise to her, any promise that would drive away the devastation of the unfilled prophecy in her life.._

Robin sat bold upright in his bed, clutching at his sheets, which balled against his bare fingers. He was very much alone, with nothing to suggest a disturbance in his room. Still his thoughts had disturbed him, and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

**Raven.**

Lately he could not seem to get her off his mind. The why was a total mystery to him, although he supposed it had something to do with the events that had recently taken place. He spent the majority of his time these days hunting obsessively for Slade. Slade, it was said, was rising again. Slade, it was said, would target them until he had exactly what he wanted.

Robin needed to find out where Slade was in order to protect them all.

More often than not, he was terrified of Raven. The night she had found out, her voice had gone deadly quiet and she had asked him the question that had started off the firestorm in his brain:

"Why go looking for someone who knows too much about how to destroy us?"

Robin had wanted to counter her question with something but had been largely unable to even speak. It was true that Slade had a way of destroying them from the inside out. He knew things the Titans themselves barely ever realized; he knew of their loyalty and the way they loved one another, he knew of their tainted pasts, and he knew of ways to hurt people that none of the team members dared to dream of.

Robin had almost forgotten what he knew about Raven, until she spoke. Now her birthmark was on his mind. So was her past. Most importantly though, the way she seemed to be avoiding everyone's questions, protesting that she was fine, stayed with him long after he'd decided to sleep.

Tonight, however, was the first night it had invaded his dreams.

He looked down at his hands and reached for his gloves, realizing that his hands had also been bare in his dreams. He wasn't one for dream symbolism, but he assumed it had something to with the feeling of helplessness that was washing over him.

He hated it.

Robin flopped back down on his bed, realizing that something was weighing on his mind, nagging in the back corner, but he could not figure out what. Today, he thought, is important, but why?

Then it came to him; it was his six month anniversary of the day he and Starfire had gotten together. Cursing his own stupidity, he rolled over and reached for a pair of jeans to pull on while he took to the streets; he had not remembered to get her a present until this very moment.

Robin left the house almost soundlessly, although he did pause for a moment outside of Raven's door, listening intently for any signs that she was still awake. As of late, he suspected that she was not sleeping. Her temper had become much shorter and she seemed to be constantly furious at everyone. Upon hearing nothing- he almost wished he would have, for a reason to stop and possibly confront her- he made his way out of the house and into a world that was, largely, still sleeping.

The sun started to come up over the buildings by the time he reached Jump City's shopping district. He flattened his hair, adjusted the collar of his jacket, and attempted to look as calm and perfect as possible. None of the citizens needed to know that their hero by night was a bumbling boyfriend by day.

He walked into the first place selling jewelry that he noticed open and talked with the salesman casually, barely aware of what he was saying. His mind still felt heavy, the thoughts swirling around at an alarming pace, and he barely listened to the man who was talking, pointing out a fine necklace of emerald and glossing over the subject of the price.

"…Take it?" The man asked. "It would be just lovely for that special woman."

Robin studied the necklace more carefully. It had a tiny perfect golden heart hanging from it with a fine emerald center, and it caught the light as he picked it up for a closer look. "It's great," Robin said, fishing the checkbook he hated to carry out of his back pocket. "What do I owe you?"

While writing a check for the absurdly large number the man listed, something in the case caught Robin's eye. It was a tiny golden pendant set with a light blue-purple stone. The color caught him off-guard; he knew exactly where he'd seem that shade of amethyst before.

"How much for that one?"

"Hmm?" Asked the shopkeeper, a jolly older man. "You are changing your mind? I thought that you mentioned your lovely woman loved green?"

"It's for a friend," he said quickly. "Her birthday's coming up." The lie fell rather quickly from his tongue. Robin knew when Raven's birthday was, and it had recently passed them, leaving them with all the chaos that surrounded them. He wondered what he was doing, confused by his own actions, but not willing to let go of something so perfect.

The shopkeeper eyed him quizzically but gave him the new quote, and Robin quickly voided the original check, shoving it in his pocket, and wrote out a new check. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he saw the check, and he quickly slowed down in the wrapping of the two necklaces to study Robin.

"So you're him, huh? Very handsome, the defender of our humble city!" The man laughed.

"Shhhh!" Robin cried. "Please… I don't want the publicity."

"You Teen Titans," the man laughed, "Are so humble." He handed the small brown bag over. "I'll keep quiet if you'll…" The man rummaged around in the small space behind the counter for a piece of paper. "Sign this for my daughter?"

Robin hastily put his signature down on the paper. "Thank you for your help," he said, and turned to run out of the store.

"Good luck with your two lady friends!" Called the man, and Robin sighed. His impulsive buy had certainly made it look as though he liked Raven.

But I don't, he reminded himself. I'm worried about her, but I don't like her.

Had he been a little less concerned with Raven and his tangled web of thoughts, he might have noticed the smaller box bounce out of his pocket as he went to climb back aboard his motorcycle, his present to Starfire lost in a puddle as he moved on.

Across town, Slade stood side by side with a young woman. Her blonde hair was tangled, her blue eyes clouded. "Consider this your last chance," he said to her. "One more slip-up and I'll make sure that you really do stay petrified forever. You made a good statue."

"I promise not to fail you," Terra whispered, hugging herself as though she were cold. "I'll do whatever it takes to help you bring the Titans to their knees." Especially, she thought, the one who doesn't care about me anymore. Especially that damn Beast Boy.

The phone rang then, a long tone that caused both villains to jump. Slade reached for it and began to listen, not speaking.

"You're certain? Absolutely certain?" Slade nodded, listening. "Interesting. Very interesting. A gamble for sure, but you know how I like a little risk. Yes. Yes. Goodbye."

Slade looked at Terra, his mouth terribly curled into a smile.

"I have simple instructions for you, Terra. The girl wearing the pendant is the one I want you to kidnap."

"Yes," she said, finding his instructions strange, but assuming the girl would be Starfire since the end goal, as usual, was to have control over Robin. She also knew there could be no failure, for failure would be the end of her. She gulped nervously to herself.

Slade smiled to himself. What Terra did not know was that Slade was unsure of which woman would end up wearing the necklace. Having received a call from old Henry that Robin appeared to have purchased two pendants, Slade was able to deduct, since one pendant was lying in the puddle, that whoever was wearing the remaining pendant would have to be, inevitably, the girl Robin loved more.

And the more he loves them, Slade reasoned, the more I can hurt him.

"Choose wisely, little bird," he whispered, and laughed to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Robin made his way back into the house under an unusually bright morning sun, shielding his eyes and taking the back way in, up a narrow staircase leading right to the hallway with their rooms, as a means of by-passing the first floor, his girlfriend, and anyone else who happened to be up before eight on a Saturday. He had no idea why he felt vulnerable around his teammates in his street clothes, but he preferred to avoid the awkwardness of the situation anyway.

Unfortunately for him, the first person he ran into was Raven, who was standing in the middle of the staircase with a cross look on her face. He noticed that, as if in a mirror of his dream, she had been letting her hair grow a bit recently. It fell to her shoulders, a beautiful tapestry that was pulled idly to one side.

With a start, she noticed him studying her and turned to face him. Her scowl, if it was possible for it to do so, deepened, a cress forming over her eyes where her brow furrowed. He shuddered; the look of despair and pain and anger was so similar to the one he'd seen in his dream last night that he could barely focus.

"Morning," she said in her usual flat monotone. He realized that he had been expecting pain. He had been expecting emotion. He had been expecting something more than the usual, flat monotone that came out of her mouth.

He shook his head. Dreams always seemed to mess with him in a way nothing else could. He had read somewhere that they were the internal workings of a subconscious, and he decided that if these were the things his subconscious was thinking, well…

He was screwed.

She had started to walk past him. He realized he had been so lost in his thoughts he had not acknowledged her. "Raven… Good morning!"

"Where were you?" He could feel her eyes on him, looking at his tattered jeans and well-worn jacket. "And did you wear that mask the whole time you were out?"

Robin touched the edge of his mask thoughtfully, as if only just realizing it was there. He hadn't, of course; he'd merely put it on coming through the door. "I just couldn't sleep," he said lamely. Because of you, added a voice in the back of his head, but he pushed it away in irritation.

"I see," she said coolly. "Well, you might want to get changed." She turned her shoulders and Robin realized how thin she was, a mere shadow. She was acting like a shadow too; she wanted to slide away quickly, unnoticed.

He remembered her voice in his head, screaming for help. "Raven," He said again, this time with more force and conviction.

"Yes?" She asked him, standing below him with her shoulders squared. Everything in her seemed as though it was held together with some kind of glue, and Robin felt for a moment as if he could see inside her, past the exterior, to the surging emotion, to all the pain she kept locked inside. Then the moment was gone, and she simply appeared thin and angry and more than a bit tired.

"Are you okay?"

"I feel like you ask me that at least eight times a day," Raven said, turning again and preparing to head down the stairs. She moved her hand to her forehead as though wiping away sweat, pushing her hair in what Robin swore, on anyone else, might have been a nervous gesture.

Maybe, he thought, I just never noticed how nervous she was before. The thought gave him a strange twinge of guilt and another, deeper sense of exhilaration at having noticed now.

"Yes, but I feel like you never give me an honest answer," he replied, standing with his arms crossed. "I just want to know you're okay. Really okay."

"Why should it matter to you?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. She was not hostile, but rather closed, and Robin struggled to find the words to say to keep her open.

"Well, if a member of my team isn't functioning, then I need to know about it. And if there's anything I can ever do to help you…"

He saw something then; a shadow, brief and lonely, when he said that she was a teammate. He wondered for a moment if it was only a matter of him seeing what he wanted, or if Raven was genuinely upset. However, she shook her head quickly and the flash of whatever emotion he had seen was gone. "There's nothing wrong, and there's nothing more to talk about." The hard edge and expression was back, more firmly in place than before.

"I really do think there is," Robin pressed. He was unsure why this conversation was so important to him, but he needed her to understand that it was important. He was driven by a strange, illogical desire to understand what was hurting her. "You know I understand you a little better than to think there's nothing wrong."

She smiled then, briefly. It was as though a meteor lit up the sky for an instant, then vanished. "I know you do, but trust me, I don't want to talk about it."

"But I do," he said insistently.

Raven was quiet for a moment, contemplating what next to say. Everything that was threatening to unleash itself from inside her pushed to the surface, a boil of pain and hatred and most of all, fear.

"I'm scared that you're going to pull Slade back to us and that something like… Like what happened last time could happen again."

"Your father is gone, Raven."

"Terror is never really gone," she whispered. "Not really." He could tell that she was trying to process what he had said, but it was as if something had, at least mentally, prevented her from using the information.

"Raven…"

"Let's just drop it. I just don't like that you're looking for Slade. I get the awful, awful feeling that something will go wrong and…"

"And?" He had never had Raven let her guard down enough to talk to him like this. Their voices filled the stairwell, she'd turned to face him, and the air felt thick with a charge he could not explain, but wanted to hold on to. He knew he'd felt it somewhere before but he suppressed the thought, focusing only on trying to read the shadow of a woman before him.

"Something will happen to somebody."

"Raven," Robin said, looking into her eyes, peeling back the layers to see the emotions that were visible in her eyes, "I swear to you nothing is going to happen." Suddenly, impulsively, he felt his hand moving back into the pocket of his jeans.

"Never make a promise you can't keep," she whispered.

"I'm going to make my promise to you right now," he said with intensity. The necklace felt hot and thin between his ungloved hands, and he realized that the heat was coming from him.

Had he been more aware of the choice he was making, he might have realized that the heat was a warning; it was a kind of insight into the pain he was about to put himself through. All he knew now, however, was that his gift might come into play in putting Raven's mind at ease.

For some reason, it was very important to him that she be at ease.

"I promise you," he whispered, stepping forward, causing her to step back as their shoulders almost touched, "That you are an important member of this team. Every time you look at this, I want you remember that, no matter what, we will protect you. I also want you to remember that nothing will happen to any of our friends." His hand extending the necklace, still wrapped, to her. He could see the tiny edge of its golden chain, knew he had given her the right one by the way it felt.

Her face opened in pure shock as the paper fell away.

"Why would you do this for me?" She asked quietly, and Robin's head began to race as he realized he had no clue what to say, but one emotion in him seemed to be standing out more than the others. Suddenly he realized where he had felt an electricity like this before, a certainty and a kind of love that were mixed together with a noble sense of something just being right, and it chilled him to the bone.

He had felt like this with Starfire in the beginning.

"I…"

_(Sorry this update was so long in coming. Working at kid's camp= being miserably tired, and I usually do my writing at night. Reviews are loved forever : D)_


	3. Chapter 3

**The Choices We Make**

**Chapter Three**

Robin's words were drowned out suddenly by a shrill noise upstairs. It was somewhere between a squeak and a full-blown scream, and Robin recognized it instantly. On Starfire's planet, it was custom for people to express joy in loud whoops. She must have woken up and understood the significance of the day. Somewhere in the pit of his stomach, he felt a flutter of guilt at how easily and naturally she had realized it when he had barely remembered.

For some reason, Robin's stomach did a rather unpleasant flip. He did not want, for reasons unknown to him, to go upstairs and face her clinging and cuddling. He wanted, rather, to stay here, to finish this conversation, to find out what was wrong with Raven.

In his head, he cursed Starfire's timing. He knew that the choice ultimately was his, and he had to choose to go upstairs. It left an unpleasant taste in his mouth as opened and closed it several times. Raven had stopped waiting for an answer; she was now holding her ears in pain, holding the tiny, perfect chain between her slim fingers.

"I'll explain later!" He yelled to her, and turned, running up the back staircase for his room. Suddenly, he could not stand to be in his street clothes anymore; the thought of Starfire seeing him in plainclothes unnerved him, although he could not put his finger on a reason. He kicked the door to his room open, changing quickly, flinging his jeans across the room as he did so.

As he tied the knot in his cape- lop-sided- he realized that he needed to grab Starfire's present from the pocket of his jeans. In a quick motion he reached across the bed and grabbed for the discarded jeans, feeling the first one pocket, then the other, in panic.

The necklace he had purchased for her, the tiny, perfect emerald he'd barely glanced at, his mind on an amethyst stone that he had just given away, was gone. He checked the floor, looking hurriedly from one side to the other, but his frantic search yielded nothing.

"Robin?" Asked a high, girlish voice behind him. He jumped, having not heard the door open, as Starfire looked down on him. "Why are you on the floor?" She held out a hand to help him up, puzzlement in her large green eyes.

"I was just getting dressed. Sorry, I overslept."

"Do you know what today is?" Asked Starfire, glossing over what anyone else would've questioned. For some reason, this naïve belief in him, her unwavering loyalty, annoyed him.

"Of course I do," he said, doing his best to sound enthusiastic. "The day I got together with one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

She blushed with happiness. Her face seemed a stark contrast to Raven's, and for some reason he could not explain he felt another twinge of annoyance. Still, he held out his arms and pulled her into them, and she smiled in his embrace. He couldn't help wondering, had it been Raven in her position, if she would have noticed how off he was acting.

He mentally slapped himself in time to hear the end of a question. "…Go?"

"Where do you want to go?" He said reflexively, assuming that she would be happy just to have him paying attention.

"That is the question I have just asked you." Starfire's eyes were now a little larger as she studied him, holding onto his hand even though he'd let go and cocking her head to one side so that her hair trailed down his arm. "Are you perhaps not feeling well? Should I bring upstairs the soup made of many chickens and noodles and allow you to rest before our date?"

"No!" Robin said, feeling foolish. "I just want to make sure that wherever we go is somewhere you really like."

Again, he watched Starfire's face light up. There was no questioning in her nature, and it bothered him more than it had previously. "I would like to go to see a movie and perhaps out to somewhere very nice for dinner, if that is acceptable."

"Of course it is. Whatever you want." He pecked her quickly on the forehead. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Star, but I…" He stopped, trying to think of an excuse. As guilty as he felt, he had to finish talking to Raven before the moment was lost, if it wasn't already.

"What?" She asked him, looking worried. "Have I done something wrong?"

The guilt in Robin's chest intensified at her honest worry. "Of course not!" He told her. "I just wanted to tell you we'll have to go out a little later than we planned, since I have to get a little bit of work done first."

He saw her face fall and then she quickly bit her lip to cover it up. "It is no trouble. I shall be waiting for you around seven of the clock, then?"

"Sounds great."

"Robin…"

"Yes?"

"I am so happy!" She flew at him, hugging him in a way that crushed all of his ribs and caused his stomach to drop out. He gasped for air a little louder than he probably should have, causing her to let go, before returning her hug lightly.

"Me too, Star. Me too."

She glided away waving and humming something that sounded oddly like the wedding march, and Robin turned and followed her out of his room at a safe distance, waiting for her to close her door so she wouldn't see him sprinting halfway across the tower into a wing that was, aside from the room of the mysterious empath, empty.

"What?" She snapped when he knocked on her door. "I need quiet to meditate and I swear to God if you have another joke to tell me, Beast Boy, I will wait for you to change into a monkey and I will stuff you!"

Robin sighed, taken aback slightly; this statement was characteristic of her new, shorter temper. Beast Boy never seemed to be helping matters; he insisted that if Raven would just come out of her room and spend time with all of them, she'd feel better.

Robin knew this was not the case.

"It's me!" He called. "Raven, I just want to finish talking to you."

She cracked the door open slightly, and Robin was caught off-guard by how bad she looked in the dull lighting from both the hall and her room. Her eyes were huge and wet, and while he doubted she'd been crying, she was obviously thinking of something painful. "You should be with Starfire."

"I had to make sure that you were okay."

"Well, I'm fine, so you should probably go check on your girlfriend and spend some time together." She clasp her hand around the door as if to shut it, and Robin saw, even in the narrow light, that the pendent hung, bright in contrast to her almost sallow skin, against her neck.

"I told her I had something to take care of first," he replied, then blushed slightly as Raven raised her eyebrows, realizing how suspicious and stupid his excuse sounded. Surprisingly, though, instead of slamming the door, she opened it slightly wider. It took him a second to realize this was her idea of an invitation. He stepped forward across the threshold and started as a chair presented itself to him, floating.

Realizing that this was Raven's idea of hospitality and feeling rather foolish, he sat, and she fell down on the edge of her well-made bed. He realized that the gesture was not intended to hide anything from him; Raven looked as though the effort of carrying herself around had suddenly, inexplicably, become too much.

"I never got my answer," she said suddenly, raising her hand to touch the pendant. "Why on earth are you doing this for me? There are times where I don't even think you like me."

"That's not true!" As soon as the words were out, he realized they sounded too defensive, too harsh, and that they stank of the truth. "You're… You're a great friend, and I just want you to be safe, and I feel like with all this business with Slade you're on edge and I feel badly because its my fault."

Well, he thought to himself as the last word fell like a heavy, babbled stone, at least part of the truth is there.

"I just wish you wouldn't look for him. Damn it, Robin, don't you realize that anything could happen? I'm still the daughter of Trigon. Slade still knows about my past. He could use it to hurt any of you! I'm not the one who needs the protection right now, and that's why I'm staying as far away from all of you as… as possible." Her voice, which had started out high, lost steam, and she put her hands against her face, looking for all the world like she would love to start to sob, if she could.

Robin stood up suddenly and found that he had crossed the room. His hand, unbidden, had come to rest on Raven's shoulder. "Raven," he said softly, "Raven, please… We all love you. We would all do anything for you, and we want to help."

"I just can't let you take that risk." She looked up at his hand as if puzzled by its appearance. "Robin, being around me in any capacity is dangerous."

He reached down to finger the tiny stone within the heart, brushing Raven's neck as he did. The electricity was back; his heart was thudding loudly, and he felt as if his chest might split open. "I promise you, we're going to protect you from him. I swear to God I will take Slade down, and we will save you. I swear."

Raven opened her mouth in protest, but before she could say anything, a voice echoed through the room: "Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy! We have a problem."

"What is the problem?" Robin called back to the alarm system, over which Cyborg's voice played. "Do we have any idea?"

"Slade."

Raven stood up so quickly that Robin was shocked as his hand slipped from her shoulder and went limp. She turned to face him, and suddenly he realized just how beautiful she was, the way her longer hair caught around her face… He slapped himself mentally, feeling the intensity that was radiating off of her. "Are we going to go?" The question was loaded with fear and hatred and intense emotion.

"I promise," he told her, "That I will not let anything happen to you." Before he knew what he was doing, he touched her hand lightly, and she nodded, once, as though trying to gather her emotions.

"Let's go," she finally whispered.

_(Sorry I've been so off on updating… Well, just about everything. Trying to get back into the swing of things. I apologize for the rust on my writing skills and the million typos.)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Raven could not say exactly how they'd gotten to the battle scene; her head had been in a blur, starting with the moment the Boy Wonder had entered her room. There was a certain mental lack of clarity that had been plaguing her, which only seemed amplified when she saw again in her mind, over and over, the look on Robin's face, heard his words like a bad replay:

"_I promise I will not let anything happen to you."_ His face had been so solemn, and so underlain with something, that the image haunted her even now, as she sat beside Cyborg. Knowingly, he looked over at her, watching the way she gazed out into the heavy rain and bleak night.

"You okay?" He asked. She sighed in response without meaning to; Cyborg's gentle nature always had a way of getting to her in few words.

"Yes," she managed to say, for the sake of the car's other passengers, noting how distracted both Beast Boy and Starfire appeared to be. In truth, her mind was reeling, and she longed to explain how hopelessly conflicted she suddenly was. She examined herself in the car window, looking at the piece of jewelry that hung by a thin chain around her neck. The tiny protective heart felt strange around her neck; the weight felt partly comforting and partly strangling.

Why, asked a little voice in the back of her head, is he so intent on protecting me? What is it that suddenly has him so worried about me?

The question answered itself, unbidden, in her mind as the car screeched to a halt. It all has to do with Slade, she reasoned. He just wants to catch Slade.

For some reason, this tugged at her heart slightly as she threw the door open and burst out into the street. The warehouse was obviously long-abandoned, a creepy symbol of what had once been prosperity. Rain thudded over Raven's body and she bent double, pulling her hood tighter to herself, and tried not to think anymore. Still, the pendant bounced against her body as she followed the others inside. No words were spoken, but a cold dread pasted through her body once again that she could not explain.

Robin moved back towards her, drawing his bo staff and holding it. He looked her in the eyes and mouthed words that she could barely see: 'Stick close to me.'

She nodded once in assent, gripping her own palms in terror, the dread growing stronger instead of ebbing, and followed him inside.

Just remember, she thought to herself, it has nothing to do with you. He isn't doing this for you. Somewhere inside her, something lurched, an uncomfortable, sad sensation that overshadowed the dread. She looked over at Starfire, who had also moved closer to Robin, and sighed.

Thankfully, no one heard.

Terra crouched on her heels in the loft, watching the empty warehouse with an intensity fueled more by nerves than by anything else. Slade had picked this place for the battle, although he would not tell her why. The room was large and empty, full of ancient crates and dust, and in every corner were windows that reflected light and made the room appear larger than it was. The cracked light reflected off a series of mirrors that surrounded Terra in her hiding place.

She shuddered, clutching her shoulders from the cold. The alarm had sounded, and though she knew the response of her former colleagues would only take minutes, it felt as though hours were passing. Every fiber of her nerves was standing on end with nerves and grief and a kind of silent, stunned disbelief that this, ultimately, was what life was worth to her.

She clenched and unclenched her hands, just to remind herself that it would all be taken away if she failed. She bit her lip and mentally braced, her body already steeled in a resolve to live. She braced herself against a very solid possibility; Slade had already warned her off of it.

"Don't," he had hissed in her ear gruesomely, touching her shoulder as though in some strange and terrible confidence, "Forget for a second what Beast Boy did to you. He threw you away. He's never missed you. He's never cared for you. He's moved onto the empath… Whatever her name is. I suggest your sympathy be very limited."

Raven, Terra found herself thinking. That stupid bitch, Raven. She never trusted me. She never even liked me. All because of Beast Boy. I wonder if its true… She shuddered again, this time more from the awful weight of her thoughts than the cold.

She never stopped to wonder if perhaps Slade was manipulating her. Rather, she felt an odd burning sensation in her stomach as suddenly the door flew open and she dropped to her knees, watching over top of one of the upturned crates as five people she used to know entered the room together.

They were everything she remembered them being. Cyborg walked in front, arm extended, looking from side to side. Starfire entered after him, the lean of her body suggesting a clearly defensive position. She was next to Robin, who looked utterly petrified for reasons Terra could not fathom. Behind him were the two people she wanted to see least in the world; Beast Boy, followed very closely by Raven, who the formation seemed to be taking special pains to keep in the back.

Beast Boy… The words rang out in her head and she bit them back, reaching into her left pocket to push a button. At once she heard the whirling of robots and knew Slade had not failed her; she was launching an attack on the very people she had once cared about.

They betrayed you, she reminded herself as she heard the words that she almost longed for burst from Robin's mouth: "Titans, go!"

She moved herself so as to see the battlefield. She was thinking on Slade's cryptic orders, trying her hardest not to focus on the pain of seeing Beast Boy, of seeing Raven. She knew what Raven would say the second she saw her; that she was a traitor. Their last exchange burned freshly in Terra's mind, and her hatred for Raven solidified.

She blinked, trying to force her thoughts back to Slade's orders. The girl with the necklace. It seemed so cryptic, so non-specific. She assumed that she would be leaving here with Starfire. After all, Robin was what Slade wanted. That kind of power would help him to finally achieve… whatever his goals were. It bothered Terra momentarily that she did not know, but she shook it off and moved forward, tcreeping along the loft in an effort to see.

Starfire was a whirl of action, having moved away from the others to defend from one side. Terra looked down at her with a kind of empty regret; it was not that she felt bad that she had ever betrayed Starfire, but more than Starfire had wanted so badly to give Terra a place to be. Terra had never hated her; rather, there had been no regard between them. Now, as she studied the other girl, something jarred her from her quiet reflection; nothing hung from her neck.

Terra's mind started to whirl back to Slade's words and motives. Why would Slade want to hurt Beast Boy? She thought of Beast Boy as she'd known him; funny, kind, and all-together too giving, Beast Boy had little that Slade could possibly want. Slade had seemed convinced that Beast Boy cared nothing for her, which meant somehow Slade wanted to hurt Beast Boy?

A kind of guilt welled up inside her, followed by a kind of self-serving righteousness. She decided that there was one way to tell who she was really supposed to kidnap; she just had to draw attention to herself in order to do so. Summoning strength, she raised one arm and jumped down onto the ladder, making her presence known as earth from under the building burst from the floor.

"Hey witch!" She shouted, and hurled a rock in Raven's direction. Raven, caught off-guard, wheeled in Terra's direction, barely managing to stop her in time.

"Terra?" Asked five voices together, some in more terror, some in more anger, and all turned to face her. The robots continued to slam against them, the fight continued, but everyone's eyes were locked on Terra.

"I thought you were dead!" Beast Boy cried, trying to take a step towards her. "Terra, I was so worried about…"

"You stay away from me!" She snapped at him, undue anger coming up to cover any feeling that might have been working its way to the surface. As she raised her hands, he pushed back so that he staggered into Raven, and Terra suddenly saw the glitter in the light; Raven wore the pendant around her neck.

"Terra…" Beast Boy said, hurt. "Terra, don't let this be like last time!"

"Why are you working for Slade?" Robin asked her. "Terra, let us help you."

Terra blocked all of them out, her eyes wide, and made a lunge for Raven. Raven turned and barely side-stepped, her eyes wide.

"Terra, why are you doing this?" She spat, her voice cracking on the sudden surge of panic she felt for reasons she could not explain. "Have more common sense than this."

"You're the one he wants," she hissed. "I don't know why you're the one he wants, you stupid witch, but you are going to come with me." As she spoke the words, the pace of the battle picked up around them; the robots appeared to be moving much faster than they had previously. The other Titans became distracted; Robin was trying to push his way across the floor to Raven, could see something was terribly wrong, but could not quite get to her.

"Me?" Raven asked, as the two began to fight. Terra's powers were obviously within her control; her ability to aim was much better than expected, and Raven felt her control slipping, faintly, with the high emotion of the day. She found herself half-looking for Robin, wondering how true he could possibly be to his promise on a chaotic battlefield such as this.

"I don't understand it either," Terra spat. She dodged Raven's attacks with skill and finesse such as Raven never remembered her having. Her next move struck Raven in the chest and she doubled over. "But if I don't take it, then there'll be nothing left of my life. You can't save me. None of you can save me."

Raven sputtered as she fell, the heavy rock having completely winded her. She felt an arm around her waist but could not tell who had grabbed her, and suddenly her body was jarring, blood pouring from an open cut on her cheek as she was carried. She tried to kick out, realizing what she had thought was a defender was actually Terra, but the other girl held fast to her waist as they climbed up the ladder.

Starfire, upon seeing this, took off after them, flight having been easier than walking in the swarm that was threatening to overtake the Titans.

Robin looked over his shoulder in time to see Terra start to run off with Raven, Starfire disappearing after them. Panic overtook him; he could again feel Raven's terror in the room. That terror and panic, her fear of Slade, drove him now to go running after the ladder, dodging and ducking as the battle raged around him.

I have, he thought, with unusual fever, to save her. I just have to save her.

He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this had nothing to do with Starfire and everything to do with Raven. It scared him, it terrified him, but mostly it motivated him, and he let out a cry as he barely reached the ladder in time to see Terra vanish into the loft.

Please, don't let me be too late…

_(Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. The next chapter is already mostly written; please don't think i forget about you guys between updates. I love all of my reviewers.)_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Robin managed to climb the ladder seconds after the three women disappeared. His breath came in short, battered gusts from running; at one point, he'd had to look back down at his comrades. The sight was not a pretty one; Beast Boy and Cyborg were quickly overwhelmed, and he had no idea whether they were alive or not. He felt the ground under his feet tremble as he climbed into the loft, awash with terror, and looked around. The entire time, something in the back of his head pounded over and over, in a dark sort of rhythm: **  
**

_I have to save her. I have to protect her. I promised. **I promised.**_

The loft was a dismal, dark place, eerily lit by the setting sun from outside which streamed through the warehouse's several cracked, long windows. Crates and other forgotten replicas of the warehouse's original purpose made the tiny room appear sinister, and the floor under Robin's feet felt unstable, at best. Around the walls were mirrors, which bounced back the glowing red light that filtered in, jagged angles and shadows filling the room.

He moved forward softly but with urgency; the three women were at the other end of the room, Starfire screaming something at Terra. In a strange instant he felt no sympathy or love towards her; he felt annoyance. He did not **want** her to be standing here. She was in the way. She could be jeopardizing Raven.

He was confused and irritated, unable to believe that his feelings and thoughts had twisted so suddenly, especially towards Starfire, yet not caring at the same time. Unable to take the tension, he crept forward, ducking between a crate and attempting not to be seen, listening.

"...Doesn't work like that!" Terra was screaming back at Starfire. Whatever had happened, Raven was now slumped over on the floor behind Terra, obviously incapacitated and possibly unconscious. Robin's heart twisted and it took him a few moments to focus on the two left standing, fear for Raven almost causing him to go sprinting past them. _Get a grip, _he told himself sternly.

Starfire had obviously sensed that fighting would not work; she was attempting to reason with Terra, but the other girl was beyond reason, her eyes huge and hand gestures violent. "I'll go back to being nothing!"

"We will protect you!" Starfire was saying in an empathetic voice, obviously still believing the conflict could be resolved through mere words. "We can help you!"

"No one can help me, God damnit!" She lunged forward, narrowly missing Starfire's shoulder. Starfire gasped and staggered back. "Don't you get it? I'm trash to him! I'm worse than trash! I'm doing this to save myself! I'm doing this because if I don't I'll die, and that'll be it! Don't you get it? Of course you don't! You've never been hurt like I have! You have no idea!" With each word, she attempted to take swipes at Starfire, moving out of position in front of the body of the unconscious Raven.

"Friend Terra..."

"Don't call me your friend! You're traitors! Every single one of you let me go! I trusted you and you just let me go!" Terra was obviously in an emotional state, attempting to strike Starfire. One blow landed squarely on her cheek, and Starfire winced; Robin used the chance to sprint from his hiding place towards Raven.

Terra caught him out of the corner of her eye and ran towards him. "No you don't, you bastard!" She screamed at him. "You! You most of all! What are you playing at? Get away from her! I don't know what Slade wants her for, but I am not going to let you be the one to kill me, damnit!" She hurled something from nearly in the debris pile with accuracy and a scary kind of intent plastered onto her face.

Her blow caught Robin squarely in the side of the head and he dropped to his knees, wincing in pain. Terra moved between him and Raven and he felt the pain rising within him, but also the panic. Not only could he not see her; he could not reach her even if he needed to. This set him into a panic, and the chant of 'I have to protect her' started up again within his head. At that point, the full impact of her words hit him: Slade wants something with Raven.

"What?" He managed to gasp out, pulling himself back up into a standing position. "Why the hell would Slade want Raven?"

"I don't know! I just know I have to do this!" Terra seemed to be coming back into control of herself. She looked from left to right, at Starfire, who was struggling back to her feet, and then at Robin, who stood with his fists clenched, fear pumping through him as he thought of Raven's fear of Slade, of her suspicions. _"He knows exactly how to hurt us," _she had said, and suddenly Robin realized this was true; Slade knew what he was doing.

_He knew enough not to go after Starfire, _he realized in shock, then shook his head, trying to focus on Terra.

"We can protect you!" Robin told her. "We can save you! You don't have to work for him. Terra, please..."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" She lunged forward then, taking a chance on attacking Robin. The two whirled into action; Robin grimaced. She was much stronger than he remembered her being, and he was deeply distracted and disturbed by the nagging thought that Raven was now in danger, had not wanted to come here, and he made her.

Suddenly, Starfire screamed. Several of the Slade bots had escaped the battle downstairs and were swarming towards her, overtaking her easily. In the mirrors, Robin could see the choice he had to make reflected; on one side was his girlfriend, the woman he supposedly loved, screaming her head off. On the other end of the room was the girl he had sworn he would protect, his promise, everything he had actually smiled at in the last forty-eight hours. He could see them both in the cracked mirrors, the light playing off their forms, casting shadows of crazy doubt in his mind. He took a step towards Raven, but then saw Starfire fall, screaming.

Feeling as though his heart were breaking, he ran to Starfire's side, but watched Raven's form in the mirror the entire time. He longed to go to her side but his duty was not to her; the pain he felt at this shocked and overwhelmed him. He wanted to carry her from this place, to run away and whisper 'I kept my promise.' Instead, he fought off Slade-bot after Slade-bot, and the setting sun practically blinded him as it finally sank behind the forms of Jump City, the battle taking place in a surreal lighting that made him think somehow Raven would be okay.

Raven.

Raven was not completely out the entire time; Terra had half-strangled the life out of her on the way up the ladder, kicking her so badly in the ribs at one point that her breathing was shallow, before tying her hands behind her back and knocking the wind out of her once again. She could not lift her head no matter how hard she tried. She had wanted to cry out to Robin, to Starfire, to anyone who might be able to save her, but she had not been able to move. She watched as the battle started; she prayed that Robin would come to her, lift her up.

Instead, he had run away. This shocked and bewildered Raven. She felt the pendant, his supposed promise, heavy around her neck and longed to reach for it and tear it off, yet at the same time was still holding him to his promise. After all, she reasoned, he had promised to protect her. Surely he wouldn't just abandon her to Slade, knowing that Slade would destroy her, knowing what her fears were and how lost and alone she felt?

She lost sight of him then, as the battle raged on. Without warning, Terra grabbed her around the waist again, lifting her over her shoulder, and ran towards the window.

"Stop!" She heard Robin's voice cry out. She assumed he would make it in time. She assumed they would not make it out the window, that Terra would not have a car waiting. She assumed that she would not be gagged so she could not cry out, thrown into the back seat. She assumed Slade would not have wanted her at all, that he would have wanted Starfire.

She did not know how wrong these assumptions were.

Robin tried to pry himself away from the fight to give pursuit, but the two women were gone by the time he got anywhere close to the window Terra had taken Raven out. He wanted to pursue her, screaming and fighting. He wanted to scream and cry. He wanted to unbreak his promise.

Instead, he put his arm around Starfire and ordered a retreat. His mind was pulsing; he did not feel Starfire's gentle touches or answer her gentle questions.

I have to get Raven back, he thought. He could see her as she'd been only a few hours before; she had trusted him, let him into her room, and told him honestly what she was afraid of.

He was afraid for her, but also afraid for himself. He felt something like a dull ache that he'd never known before, and longed to see her, to apologize.

His mind, in ways he could not fathom, was already made up.

_(Goddess: There, and now we've gotten past what you could've figured out from the summary. Like? Don't like? Let me know. Reviews are loved.)_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"Raven." The voice issued the word as a statement, not a question. "I ask you to bring me the woman Robin has presented his gift to, and you bring me Raven. Am I honestly supposed to believe she is the one, or have you managed to screw up yet again?" Slade stood with his hands clasp and his back to Terra, looking through the mirror above the desk at the body slung over Terra's shoulders. Raven had fallen unconscious at some point, either from the pain in her ribs or the sheer pain of controlling her emotions, and hung as though lifeless.

"I'm telling you, she's the one." Terra set her former teammate down without so much as a wince, careful not to harm her but not gently enough to ensure that she was completely all right as she hit the hard floor. "He's given her the necklace, and…"

"Was Starfire wearing anything similar?" Slade turned to face her, watching her wipe the sweat and grime of the battle from her face. "Anything at all to suggest that you made the wrong choice?"

Terra appeared nervous as she faced her master, still wiping her face, her eyes wider than they ever could have been. Quickly, words falling over each other, she explained the battle scene, how they had held Raven back, how Starfire had come within inches of her face with no visible present around her neck.

Slade did not nod or smile while she spoke. Rather, he cocked his head to the side, twisted his fingers within each other, and stood as though pondering. In truth, he had no idea what Robin's motives for gifting Trigon's daughter could have been, and yet he felt as though the answer were painfully obvious. If, in fact, Terra was correct, the girl could be more valuable bait than Starfire ever might have been.

"Terra."

"Yes?"

"Keep this girl under lock and key. Don't hurt her, but don't let her escape either."

"What am I to do about her powers? She can best me, if she wants to." Terra blushed as she admitted it, biting her lip. She hated to admit any weakness to her former boss, and yet she could not help it. She knew if she lost Raven, she had no shot at living, and wanted to make sure that something was not about to go terribly wrong.

"There are ways to contain her powers. Leave everything except the physical guarding to me. Take her downstairs, and see that she is properly restrained. I have a feeling she will not have much fight left in her, after tonight's events. Someone she once had faith in has hurt her very badly, Terra."

Terra winced.

"Too familiar? I think the situation may be almost identical to yours, in a way. One male Titan with a clear connection to someone else may have fallen for her, and the pain may be too much for her, or her lover, to bear."

"Are you implying…?" Terra's eyes grew wide. Could Raven, whom she had hated more than anything, really have any kind of connection to Robin? She tried to reflect on her time around the empath and the leader, and found her mind painfully blank. She could hardly remember them doing more than discussing potential strategy and training. In fact, it seemed that they were hardly ever in the same room while she'd lived there.

"I don't think so," she said finally.

"Robin does everything for a reason, Terra." Slade stepped forward and fingered the tiny pendant around the unconscious Raven's neck for a moment. "There was a reason this was around her neck. I'm not asking you to question me, do you understand?" He leaned forward, picking the limp woman up with one arms and practically slinging her at Terra's form. Terra barely caught her, making a small choked noise in the back of her throat.

"Do you understand?" Slade asked again.

"I…I understand."

"Good. Because a statue wouldn't talk back, and as I've told you before, you make a very nice statue."

Terra left without a word.

* * *

Cyborg paused outside Robin's door. He felt awkward being there, knew he was not meant to be there, and yet he wanted to say or do something to comfort his friend. He and Starfire had not gone out: There had been nothing but awkward, dejected silence upon their return. Beast Boy joked about bombing to rescue their friend, Starfire was concerned, but Robin had not said a word to anyone.

The noises he was making, however, sounded like soft, dejected crying.

Wringing his hands and wondering what was going on, he resolved to speak to his friend in the morning.

_~Goddess~_


End file.
